How Koha handles on shelf holds

In Koha 16.11, the rules for on shelf rules have added even more flexibility! However, the changes in verbiage have lead to some confusion that. I hope we can add some clarity to the situation.

For starters, the existing behaviors for on shelf hold rules have not changed. Originally, on shelf holds had two options, ‘yes’ and ‘no’:Yes: Always allow on shelf holdsNo: Only allow on shelf holds if at least on item is unavailable

Now, the name for “no” has changed, and an additional options has been added:

Yes: Always allow on shelf holds

If any unavailable: Only allow on shelf holds if at least on item is unavailable

If all unavailable: Only allow on shelf holds if *all* items are unavailable

So, in short, the ‘No’ option has been renamed to ‘If any unavailable’ but it’s behavior remains the same. The label simply describes it’s behavior more accurately. In addition to this, the option “If all unavailable” has been added so a library can specify that a patron can only place a hold if all the items are on a record are unavailable for some reason!